by Jacqueline Atkinson
Each year, March 8 marks the global celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD). According to the official IWD website, the annual commemoration is intended to celebrate “the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.” Furthermore, the day signifies a “call to action for accelerating gender parity.” While women’s rights have evolved a great deal, there is still much work to be done both within and outside of Canada, which is why this day remains of utmost importance for improving the lives of women and truly realizing gender equality.
The first steps towards advancing Canadian women’s rights began in Ontario in 1884 when the Married Women’s Property Act was implemented to give married women the same legal rights to property as men. This included the ability to enter legal agreements and to purchase property. Between 1916 and 1917, the right of white women to participate in provincial elections was extended in most provinces, excluding Quebec and the Northwest Territories until 1940 and 1951, respectively. A most monumental year was seen in 1918 when white women received federal suffrage. However, one of Canada’s greatest advancements in gender equality came in 1929 in response to the “Person’s Case” lodged by the Famous Five. This decision officially identified women as persons under the law thus granting women the right to occupy office, and effectively facilitating the first female appointment of Cairine Reay Wilson to the Senate in 1930. IWD pays homage to these incredible achievements, but it also compels us to demand necessary change in the lives of women today.
Gender equality quite simply has yet to be realized in 2017. Women continue to live subordinate to men, which is exemplified in gendered expectations of women in childrearing and in the workplace. Women continue to occupy substantially more precarious employment positions, often finding themselves defined as casual employees lacking access to valuable health care and work protection benefits. Women are continuously objectified and subjected to sexualized dress codes, a practice most commonly experienced in the hospitality industry but similarly experienced in other industries as well. There is little workplace accommodation for family obligations, including breastfeeding and tending to sick children.
The demand for these family accommodations in particular is frequently met with contestations that family matters are not to enter the workplace. However, this criticism is exemplary of the fact that we refuse to acknowledge child rearing as paid work which contributes to the betterment of our society. This criticism is furthermore representative of favoring a male dominated workforce and of the often incredibly unequal child rearing responsibilities assumed by women. If we claim we truly want change towards gender equality, we must demand increased accommodations for women within the workplace so that women can fully experience financial autonomy.
But it is also important to remember that all women do not share the same experiences which is why IWD also demands us to question how we are using intersectionality to include all women and all experiences in our mandate to advance gender equality. One contentious issue is the inclusion of trans-women in women’s rights circles. Trans-women are criticized as being unable to understand the plight of women who have identified their female gender from birth on the basis that trans-women have enjoyed male privilege for some period of their lives. We ought to use IWD to be conscious that the privileged experience of trans-women is simply different rather than superior. Male privilege may have been reluctantly experienced by these women but they were also not fortunate enough to experience the privilege of expressing their gender identity from birth as other women have.
IWD furthermore forces us to see the incredible disparity of women’s rights that exists between Western countries and the rest of the world, leading us to proclaim the personal is international. We must call upon our world leaders to adopt feminist foreign policies which specifically focus on the experiences of women and girls rather than solely the betterment of the state. With a great deal to reflect upon and a great deal more to improve upon, IWD ignites a fiery passion in us all to continue the fight against sexist oppression throughout the world.
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 9, No. 6 (Spring 2017).
